Cleo Abram

Aliens are out there. But where exactly?
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Since I was a kid, I had a big question: “WHERE are all the aliens?”

Still, as an adult, I desperately want to be alive when we discover real extraterrestrial life! And I don’t mean the conspiracy theories, well-meaning but totally wrong science fiction. Or even “the math says there should be someone somewhere”! No. The real science.

I want to know… how are we ACTUALLY going to find aliens? Because if we want to be alive when we find them… cosmically, we don’t have long!

So, I reached out to one of the most important scientists in the search for intelligent life outside our solar system… and who is leading a new effort to find alien life INSIDE our solar system too…

In this episode, Professor Sara Seager and I are going to show you the real science and tech behind the incredible push happening right now to actually find aliens.

HUGE* Conversations is an independent journalistic interview show. Our mission is to show the futures the most important leaders in science and tech are building, so you can decide for yourself what you think of them. Interviewees do not see questions ahead of time, have any editorial control, get paid or pay HUGE*, or see the HUGE* Conversation before publication.

Chapters:
00:00 How are we going to find aliens?
03:06 How do we find planets around other stars?
08:03 How do we see inside an exoplanet’s atmosphere?
10:59 Have we found an Earth twin?
12:22 How do we block out a star’s light?
14:17 What is Starshade?
17:03 What signs of life are we looking for?
18:45 What counts as intelligent life?
21:08 Could we detect alien technology?
22:10 Could aliens detect us from far away?
24:47 Could alien life be AI?
27:42 Why is Venus called Earth’s evil twin?
30:10 What’s inside the Venus probe?
32:07 Can life survive in sulfuric acid?
34:32 Where should we look for aliens next?
37:32 Why does Sarah Seager want to find another Earth?
39:04 :)

You can find me on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
On TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
Or on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, HUGE* If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional Reading and Watching:
- Venus Morning Star Missions, “Morning Star Missions to Venus”: https://www.morningstarmissions.space/
- Sara Seager, “Books”: https://www.saraseager.com/books
- National Academy of Sciences, “Sara Seager”: https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/sara-seager-rwwhfm/
- The Big Think, “The chemistry on Earth’s sister planet doesn’t add up | Sara Seager”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt232gW2oFQ&vl=en
- TED, “The search for planets beyond our solar system | Sara Seager”: https://www.ted.com/talks/sara_seager_the_search_for_planets_beyond_our_solar_system
- TEDx Talks, “Towards the search for life on other earths | Sara Seager | - TEDxCoconutGrove”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAYqK9lAxic

- NASA's exoplanet map: https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/exo/
- Kepler Space telescope: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/kepler/
- Roman Space telescope: https://science.nasa.gov/roman-and-webb/
- Coronagraph, explained: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/coronagraph/
- Habitable World's Ob

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What’s really going on with nuclear fusion?? @simonegiertz and I try to explain...
PART 2 COMING SOON. Subscribe to see it: https://www.youtube.com/cleoabram?sub_confirmation=1

You’ve probably heard about nuclear fusion. Maybe you've heard recent news about the Livermore National Lab achieving a nuclear fusion breakthrough called "ignition" - meaning it produced more energy than it took to start the reaction. That's a huge deal! But it leaves other questions unanswered. I wanted to know more.

I started by asking the CEO of the nuclear fusion company Helion all my big questions: What is nuclear fusion, really? I know it happens on the sun, but how can we do it on earth? Are we doing it already? Then, I ask one last question: “I’ve heard about kids building fusion reactors in their moms’ garage… if fusion is so hard… what are THEY doing?” The answer sets off the most fun and ambitious Huge If True episode yet.

It turns out that you can actually BUILD a nuclear fusion device. So I team up with my friend Simone Giertz to try. When something goes wrong, it turns into an explainer on what’s really going on with the world’s most-hyped energy source.

Special thanks to Jessie, Ron and Joben at Helion for helping set up such an exciting shoot (and not giving up!). And thank you to Anna Bresnahan for helping shoot this episode!

Chapters:
00:00 We tried to build a nuclear fusion reactor
03:07 What IS nuclear fusion?
04:51 Thank you, Oura!
05:31 How close are we to nuclear fusion?
07:30 How does nuclear fusion work?
08:31 How does the sun do fusion?
09:21 Magnetic confinement fusion
09:52 Inertial confinement fusion
10:37 Magneto-inertial confinement fusion
11:01 What does fusion LOOK like?
12:03 Why CAN'T we do fusion?
13:33 Why do we need fusion?

Correction:
07:48 In plasma, one or more electrons are torn free from an atom (as opposed to protons and neutrons themselves being "broken into bits"!)

Sources and further reading:
- Watch more from Simone here: https://www.youtube.com/c/simonegiertz
- The Star Builders: Nuclear Fusion and the Race to Power the Planet, by Arthur Turrell: https://www.amazon.com/Star-Builders-Nuclear-Fusion-Planet/dp/1982130660
- The Future of Fusion Energy, by Jason Parisi and Justin Ball: https://www.amazon.com/Future-Fusion-Energy-Jason-Parisi/dp/1786347490
- Atomic Awakening: A New Look At The History And Future Of Nuclear Power, by James Mahaffey: https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Awakening-History-Future-Nuclear/dp/1605981273
- Principles Of Fusion Energy: An Introduction To Fusion Energy For Students Of Science And Engineering: https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Fusion-Energy-Introduction-Engineering/dp/9812380337
- “Nuclear fusion power inches closer to reality,” Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/26/nuclear-fusion-technology-climate-change/
- “Major breakthrough on nuclear fusion energy,” BBC: https://youtu.be/0fYiNVRmOA4
- “Fusion Power Explained: Future or Failure,” Kurzgesagt: https://youtu.be/mZsaaturR6E
- “How Helion’s approach to fusion works” https://youtu.be/HlNfP3iywvI
- “We Went Inside the Largest Nuclear Fusion Reactor, The B1M: https://youtu.be/4BkOUOK0XzM
- “Why Private Billions Are Flowing Into Fusion,” Bloomberg: https://youtu.be/Dp6W7g9no0w

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You can find me on TikTok here for short, fun tech explainers: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
You can find me on Instagram here for more personal stories: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
You can find me on Twitter here for thoughts, threads and curated news: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated video producer and journalist. Cleo produces detailed explainer stories about technology and economics. She wrote the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Ne

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